


All The Stars

by Phoenix (piiidgeon)



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 06:48:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26348872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piiidgeon/pseuds/Phoenix
Summary: The monster under your bed is real, only you can't see it.A family was given a gift to hunt these beasts that send scientists into laughing fits and make people look like they belong in the loony bin when they talk about them. The only issue here is, should they really be hunting them? Or is this all some elaborate hoax from a higher power?
Kudos: 2





	All The Stars

A shaky hand clutched an old tape recorder, slowly pressing play. "I'm going to start this off by being completely frank; cryptids are real. This isn't me saying this as some crazed, freaky believer. No. You see, my family hunts them- at least on my mom’s side. My mom is the one who taught me the hunt, the one who taught me about our gift. She was jailed where she was killed, having been deemed psychotic by other inmates.” There was a long pause in the scratchy recording. The shuffling of papers can be heard in the background before the raspy voice welcomes the unsteady hand back.  
"The last thing she ever told me was 'We are all the stars.' It confused me for a great deal of time, often keeping me up at night. I would lay there pondering what it could mean. I tried so hard to pull some fake, deep meaning from it. It wasn't until recently when I was going through her notes, looking for anything on the Flatwoods Monster, when I saw it. The stars." There was a soft chuckle.  
"She was talking about the literal stars. Now, this might sound like a long shot, but they're living creatures. A race of higher beings. They aren’t gods or aliens, they used to be humans. I'm unsure of how one can become a star, but I do know that my family gift and cryptids are involved. It's like the hunts are trials. That’s why sightings of these things are always years apart. It's as if they’re being re-made. If they were able to gift my family with superhuman abilities, it's possible they are the one’s creating these cryptids." The audio falls quiet again. Through the soft scratches of the tape, the sound of muffled speaking can be heard. It's clear that there are two voices, however, their words were impossible to make out.  
"I'm making this log because I am no longer sure of what I'm doing. Why should I attempt to pass? What do I get out of it? There must have been a reason as to why Mom was hiding this from me. I need to figure this out. End log." The tape clicks to a stop. They sit back in their chair and scribble a few notes before letting out a heavy sigh. They didn't realise they had been holding their breath. 

Lane placed the recorder down on her desk. Her clock reads eight-fifty in the evening. She was about to go find something to drink, when she was greeted by her dad's voice.  
"Hey, kiddo. You doing okay?" He slowly enters the room, glancing at the messy desk before them where he notices Cat's notebook. "Thinking about her again?"  
"Yeah I guess so." Cat was a tall, muscular woman. She was skilled both in and out of combat, knowing how to take down a 10ft creature and still be home to cook dinner by five. She knew what she was doing and she did it well. She looked hardened, tough, evil almost, but she loved her family. Even after Phil left her for their neighbor. To other people it always seemed as if she was truly perfect, and had no flaws, no issues.  
"She was a good woman, Lane. I hope you know you never need to worry about that."  
"Yeah, I know." Her answers were cold and dry. Lane has never had a great relationship with her dad, not even after Cat's death. There are many parts that still feel forced, but maybe that's because there are still parts of Lane that are bitter about the divorce and how he left. Some things can never be fixed.  
"You going to be okay tonight?"  
"Yeah. I'm just tired." That was a lie.  
"Okay, well... I'm going out, then. If you need anything, you can always call me. The handheld is charged so I'm taking it with me."  
"You're going with Kevin?" The name alone left a sour taste in her mouth.  
"Yep. I shouldn't be too long, though."  
"Okay. Be safe."  
"Always." Christan gives her a smile which she attempts to return, but the result was a look of indifference. She had lost interest early on in the conversation. In all honesty, she wasn't a fan of talking to him. 

The cold air hit them in the face as their mitted hand clutched a familiar tape player. They overlook the scene in front of them- it was nothing but woodlands covered in layers of snow. The trees in front of them were barely visible. Their blue lips quivered in the cold air as they slowly trekked forward amidst the knee-deep snow. Their snowshoes had broken about two miles back and they'd been struggling since. They had thought about turning back, but that would take even more time than just trying to make it to the campsite. That is, if they could find the campsite in the first place. It should be just ahead, but in this weather it would be easy to miss. The campsite lies within a clearing in the trees, meaning the snow would most likely be deeper there. With shaky hands, they pull out a compass. They nod in agreement with it- they were headed in the right direction. The sun was starting to set and the temperature was dropping. The sky showed all of the signs of an incoming storm. They looked to the sky knowing that they might need to find natural shelter, such as a cave, and ditch the campsite altogether. The only issue was that they were surrounded by flat woods, with no hills or mountains. Tonight was going to be bad and they knew it. 

"How was that?" Lane pants as she walked back to her mom, blood dripping from her hands.  
"That was perfect. That deer didn't even stand a chance." Cat looks down at 10 year old Lane with a warm smile.  
"You think so?"  
"Know so. See? You had no need to be nervous about this." Cat was right. Lane had been worrying about the hunt’s outcome for days now. She wanted everything to be perfect for her mom. Cat didn't see it that way, though. No matter how well, or poorly, Lane performed, she would always be proud. She didn't have to worry about Lane doing poorly anyways. She had faith in her daughter and knew that Lane would only perform as best as she could. Not only that, but Lane's performance was perfect. It was better than Cat’s first mock trial. Everything was flawless, right down to her breathing pattern.  
"What did I do wrong?"  
"Now don't go jumping into things like that. Everything was perfect." Cat hands Lane a well-loved towel. Lane reluctantly takes it and starts cleaning her hands off.  
"You're lying." Cat’s face deadpans.  
"Now, you know I don't lie, Lane."  
"Right, okay," Lane huffs as she furrows her brows and hands the bloody towel back to her mom. Cat could tell she was running through the hunt in her head, analysing her every move. Going through it all, telling herself how she could have done better.  
"Don't beat yourself up over nothing. You just scored us a few weeks’ worth of food." Cat smiles at Lane before giving her a light pat on the back. "Come on. Let's pack up and head home." Lane doesn't look up, but nods okay.  
This recollection of events replays over and over again in Lane’s head as she lies in bed. It was a bittersweet memory. The first calm before the storm in her life. The last time she was happy for years. The next day Christan left.  
Whispers could be heard downstairs. Lane slides out of bed, grabbing her knife.  
"Dad?" The word leaves her mouth as she slips out of her room. There is no answer. As the soft creaking of Lane’s footsteps start down the hall, the loud clunks of people downstairs stops.  
"Dad, is that you?" She gets no reply again. Tightening her grip, she continues to move down the hall, approaching the stairs. She sinks low and slows her pace. She can sense more than one person in the house. The movement was barely audible, but she could tell it was getting closer.  
"Lane!" Instinctively Lane sweeps Christans legs out from under him, sending him to the floor and almost sliding down the stairs.  
"Shit, sorry. Instinct. I should have known it was you, twinkle toes."  
"And the name is back. Ow." Lane offers her hand to her father. "Thanks."  
"The fact that you brought someone home threw me off." Lane let the words land grimly.  
"Sorry. I thought you would be asleep by now. It's just Kevin."  
"Right. In that case, I'll leave." Lane looks at the stained blue carpeting below her feet as she heads towards her room.  
"Hey, you know you don't have to leave every time he's over."  
"I know. I want to." She doesn't look back as she closes the door behind her. 

"Fífl," a voice squeaks, muffled by layers of clothing. The snow has stopped, but the iced wind continues on. They adjust their snow goggles as they slowly move forward through the snow that was nearly waist-deep now. The trees were starting to thin out. The snow was starting to get lighter.  
"By gods. There it is." A giant mountain greets them. They're miles away, but it's finally in sight without the trees blocking their view. They dig through their bag and pull out another tape. An old label on it reads 'Yeti'. Their shaking hand places it into the old player. They put their earbuds in and hit play, gripping the player tightly.  
"I'm still not sure how this hunt has led me to search for the Yeti’s layer. The Yeti might not even exist anymore. There haven’t been sightings for years, not even mom could find it." A familiar voice plays throughout. They dig through their pockets and pull out a ripped up piece of paper. It's a newspaper article, the headline reading 'The Yeti: Still out there?'.  
"A month ago." They reassure themself under their breath. The recording continues to play.  
"I can tell I'm close to the cave. As I continue to scale this mountain, I'm finding more and more dead bodies. This is probably due to the fact that not many hikers are strong enough to survive the climb to the top of the mountain. The air is very thin and the higher you get, the colder it gets. There are many natural things to die from up here. Yet, there's something in my gut telling me that the amount of human carcasses I'm finding are anything but natural. My mom wasn't able to find this beast, but she made detailed notes about these victims. She wrote about how the newer bodies had these strange scratches on their backs. They were all missing various pieces of clothing as well. It was an odd pattern. It's been long enough that most of the cadavers have been eaten away by frostbite. This frostbite is different, though. Because they're dead things it acts more like freezer burn on the outside. Some of the bodies have even been stuck to the rocks they rest on. It's a strange sight. You'd think that with all the dead things I've seen throughout my life, I wouldn’t be bothered by my current surroundings. But if I see one more corpse like this today, I might actually ralph. My biggest challenge here is not becoming one of them." With that, the recording scratches off. They take the tape out of the player and turn it around. The second side is simply labeled 'The cave'. They nod their head, slipping the tape into their pocket along with the player and paper.  
"Mountain." The wind sweeps the word out of their mouth as they start to trudge on towards the mountain. The sun was setting once more and they wanted to make it at least halfway to the mountain base by nightfall. Without trees to protect them, they fear their camp will be more dangerous to stay in alone at night than during the day. The farther they can get, the faster this trip can be over.


End file.
